


Shark Attacks of '54

by Sinistretoile



Series: Mermaid Lagoon [4]
Category: Picnic (2013)
Genre: Blood and Gore, Eventual Fluff, F/M, Family Fluff, Happy Ending, Implied Sexual Content, Interspecies Romance, Interspecies Sex, Mermaids, Sharks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2018-10-25
Packaged: 2019-08-07 15:40:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16411256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sinistretoile/pseuds/Sinistretoile
Summary: As Hal Carter makes his way up the river, so does something killing young swimmers.





	Shark Attacks of '54

**Author's Note:**

> Written for my own Tumblr challenge to celebrate my blog's 4 year anniversary.

The hot summer sun beat down on Hal’s shoulders. His shaggy brown hair hung in his eyes, soaked with sweat. He’d been following the train tracks through the woods and fields of Mississippi for days now. He’d venture into towns to buy a Coca-Cola and a sandwich at a diner then disappear before he could be run out of town. He needed work. He was getting low on money. His boots were starting to wear. And dammit all if he didn’t need a nice hot bath and a beer.  
When he came upon the river, he felt blessed from up on High. It wasn’t in too secluded an area so he had to be quick. Stripping off his dirty, sweat stiff clothes, he waded into the water. Even with the sun on it, it was still cool. A quick dip into the clear water and he let the sun dry him while he figured out his next move.  
As Hal pulled up his boxers, he felt that itch at his back. Someone was watching him. He turned in a slow circle but saw nothing. Wouldn’t do anyone in the woods any good to jump him. He was about out of cash and only thing of value on him was the knife he kept in his boot. He slowly dressed, keeping his head down but his eyes moving. The water splashed behind him and he whipped around, blade drawn. He caught the flash of a dark green and brown fin in the water.  
Hal’s face set in a stern frown as he finished dressing and headed up the river. The farm came up on him as he rounded the bend. He doubled back through the woods to approach the house from the front.  
A couple sat on the front porch. Typical southerners. Old man had a shotgun lying across his lap. He’d spotted Hal as soon as he came out of the trees and angled the barrel toward his chest. The old woman snapped a pile of green beans in her apron.  
“Don’t mean to trouble you folks.” Hal raised his hands to his sides to show he was unarmed. “Merely wanted to offer my hands and my back in exchange for a meal and a night in your barn.”  
“Barn’s for animals. You an animal, son?”  
“No, sir.”  
The couple shared a long, silent look. Hal shifted awkwardly in the high noon sun. “What’s your name, boy?”  
“Hal, sir. Hal Carter.”  
“We’ll make you a deal. For every honest day’s work you put in, you’ll get fed and a bed.” Hal started to speak but the man raised his hand. “You look like a kid who just needs a shot.”  
“Old Harold’s a crack shot if you get out of line.”  
The old man grinned at his wife. “I see what you did there.” He leaned over and kissed her soft, wrinkled cheek. “She’s a pistol, this one.” The old man turned to him with hard eyes. “May’s right though. I won’t hesitate to pull this trigger you start acting a fool. Understand?”  
“Yes, sir.”  
May looked up from her busy hands, snapping away. “For today though, you go wash up and relax. There’s a guest bedroom off the kitchen. I’m sure you can find it.”  
Hal blinked. “You…you trust me to go in your home without you?”  
“Shouldn’t we trust you, son?”  
“Yea, yes. Yes, sir. I’m just not used to being welcomed so politely.”  
The old man shrugged. “You look like you’ve had a rough shake.”  
“And tired. How long you been travelling?”  
“A couple months.”  
May nodded. “You go wash up and take yourself a nap. I’ll call you when dinner’s ready.”

Hal finished stacking the wood he’d just chopped and wiped the back of his hand across his forehead. He’d been with Harold and May for over a week. Good to their word, every honest day’s labor got him three squares a day and a bed softer than he could remember.   
Another boat passed by on the river, full of voices and men with guns. There was a lot of activity on the river today. Hal’s fingers twitched. He wasn’t an innocent man by no means. He knew a posse when he saw one. He ducked his head and picked up another log and stood it up right. He swung the ax down with a thunk. Sweat trickled down his back. He could feel the slight pool of it in the small of his back underneath the waistband of his jeans.  
“Hal?”  
“Yes, Miss May?”  
“I need you to run into town to the general store for me. Harold’s knee’s bothering him.”  
“Yes, ma’am.” Hal stacked the wood he’d just chopped then joined May and Harold in the kitchen, washing his hands in the sink.  
May looked him in the eyes and handed him some bills and a list and the keys to their truck. “There should be enough there to get the list. Just give it David behind the counter and tell him you’re working for us for the summer.”  
“Yes, ma’am.” Hal folded the money and the list and tucked it into his pocket. 

Hal didn’t miss the eyes that followed him as he drove down the town’s main street in Harold and May’s pickup. He pulled up to the general store and got out. Again, conscious of the looks being thrown his way. It wasn’t anything he wasn’t used to. He was an outsider, a drifter. He didn’t belong in towns like this. He wasn’t a bad man. But he also didn’t consider himself a good man either.  
Hal hitched his jeans up over his hips and smoothed his shirt, pushing his hair back from his bright blue eyes. He made sure to lock the pickup. No doubt, it would be his ass if anything happened to it. All conversation stopped when he stepped into the shaded doorway, the bell above the door tinkling his arrival as did the thump of the screen against the jamb. He shifted under several of sets of eyes but didn’t cower or back down.  
The group of men at the counter parted like the sea as he stepped up, but they didn’t go far. “Can I help you, son?”  
Hal Carter turned on the charm. “You David?”  
“I am.”  
Hal thrust his hand out. “Name’s Hal, Hal Carter. I’m helping Harold and May for a little bit and she gave me this list.” David shook Hal’s hand then took the list and the dollar bills.  
“Nice to meet’cha, Hal. Have a seat over there on the bench and I’ll get May’s order ready. Charge what the money don’t cover?”  
Hal nodded. ‘Yes, sir that’s what May said.” He took a seat on the bench, trying not to take up too much space but also trying to look like he didn’t give a hoot if the men at the counter were still eyeballing him.  
Once the excitement of Hal’s arrival dulled, conversation resumed. “Now you were saying?”  
“Oh yeah, only one of the boys survived. He’s lost use of his arm though.”  
“What did it?”  
“They don’t know.”  
“I heard it was a gator, come up from Florida way.”  
The young deputy shook his head. “No sir, I ain’t seen no gator mauling look like that before. The one kid had his whole side ripped out, innards all over the sand.”  
Another man around Hal’s age and looking just as pale as the deputy squared his shoulders. “It’ll be in the evening edition but so’s y’all know, this ain’t an isolated incident.” The rest of the men looked at each other.  
“These attacks been coming further up the river. This is about the 3rd or 4th one, idn’t deputy?”  
“Fourth.”  
Hal shifted. Attacks? On the river? Had he been following a killer? Or keeping just ahead? He shivered. “Hal? Hal?” David called louder the second time, startling the drifter from his thoughts. “Order’s all ready.”  
“Thank you, sir.” Hal lifted the box and tucked it against his body.  
“There’s a group going out this afternoon to drag the river and try to catch whatever it is.”  
“I heard there were a couple.”  
“They’re all idiots.” A hum of agreement went up from the group. Hal set the box on the passenger side of the bench seat and headed back to the farm, more than a little shaken at his brush with fate.

Hal tucked into the roast and potatoes on his plate, glancing back and forth between the old couple. Harold set down his fork and squared a look at the young man. “You got something on yer mind, Hal?”  
Hal’s chewing slowed as he sat upright, his hair falling into his eyes. He tossed it back out the way with a shake of his head. He set his own fork down as he swallowed. “I don’t want you two going near the river.”  
May smirked and Harold raised an eyebrow. “And what gives you that authority, son?”  
“No one, sir. But...” May nodded at him to go on. “But the deputy was at the general store. He said there’d been an animal mauling on the river.”  
Harold glanced at May, concern flashing in his eyes. “An animal mauling?”  
“Yes, sir.” Hal rubbed his hands on his denim-encased thighs nervously under the table. “Some kids. Don’t know how many. They said only one survived but he lost his arm.” Hal squared his shoulders. “I’m younger, faster and stronger than the pair of you. You’ve been real kind to me. So I’m asking you, don’t go near the water. Let me do it.”  
May reached across the table and squeezed his hand. “Alright, Hal. Now, finish your supper.”

Hal stood on the sandy bank. The whitish grey smoke from the cigarette hanging off his bottom lip drifted into the night sky, a pale contrast to the darkness around him. Harold and May had turned out their light hours ago. But the day’s news sat on his mind.  
The unearthly screech brought him out of his thoughts like a hot iron to the back. Another screech was followed by the shouted curses of men. His dangling cigarette dropped to the damp sand and his feet moved swiftly of their own volition.  
“Watch the teeth, Samuel!”  
“I’m trying! She’s feisty, Carl!”  
“I need help with here!” Hal stumbled to a halt as he entered the tiny inlet. Four men, younger than him were wrestling the biggest he’d ever seen. It screeched again and swung its tail, knocking the one attempting to hold it onto his back in the water. “Goddammit! Get her tail before she gets away!”  
“Dewey, we’re trying!”  
Hal cleared his throat and everyone froze. His brow furrowed as he got a real good look at the ‘fish’, which wasn’t a fish at all but a girl. Well…part girl. And damn near the prettiest girl he’d seen in his life. Her dark brown hair was tangled with water weeds and small rocks. Her eyes pleaded with him for help. And when she reached out her hand in his direction, there was webbing between her clawed fingers. Where this girl’s legs should have been was a tail, glittering dark and green in the moonlight. She screeched again, only less in terror and more pitiful.  
“What are y’all about here?”  
“This ain’t none of yer concern, mister.”  
“Yeah! We caught her fair and square!”  
“She’s ours!”  
Hal understood then. The girl fish was a mermaid. He’d heard tails from the men on the docks. He’d even seen the brightly colored placards for their kind at the traveling freak shows and carnivals he sometimes found work with. Hal had two thoughts simultaneously. The first, this lucky group of bumpkins was about to be rich. The second, this girl…this mermaid…was in for a miserable and if she was lucky, short life.  
He couldn’t let that happen.  
Hal held up his hands. “Oh she’s yours alright. But I’d be careful. Ain’t you fellas heard? She’s a killer this one.”  
“Nah, that’s a gator that got those boys.”  
Hal shook his head. “No, sirs. Heard straight from the deputy’s mouth. Weren’t a gator.” Hal pointed at the mermaid. “It was her.” The mermaid’s tail flicked slowly in the water. Her brow furrowed and she set her jaw.  
“Yer lying.”  
Hal shook his head. “No, sirs. They’ll probably put you boys in the paper. Front page. And they’ll string her up for the whole town to see. You best go get the sheriff. And quick. I’ll watch her.”  
“How do we know you won’t try to take credit?”  
“There’s four of you and you’re from here. There’s only one of me and I’m just passing through. Who you think they’ll believe? You or me?” Hal raised his eyebrow. He had a point. It wasn’t right and it wasn’t fair but it was the God’s honest truth everywhere he’d ever been. “Just you tie her up good and tight. I don’t want her ripping out my innards before y’all get back with the law.”  
Hal settled down in the wet sand and leaned against the boat. He waited for the boys to truss her up like a hog, feigning nonchalance. As they trekked off into the night woods towards town, Hal knew they’d be back. But not with the law. No one would believe them. Mermaids were fairy stories. They weren’t real.  
He waited until the rustling of their departure died off then he sprang up. “Hold still, now.” He flicked open his knife. She started to screech and covered her mouth with calloused hand, taking no care against her tiny sharp teeth. “Quiet, girl. I’m gonna cut you free. Those boys are ignorant and mean. I’ve seen their kind. They’ll kill you as soon as they get back. You’re too much trouble alive.”  
She flicked her tail back and forth, in an action that reminded him of a cat. He slowly removed his hand. “I know you.”  
“You speak?”  
“I do. And I know you.” She didn’t elaborate. She’d seen him bathe that first day. He was quite handsome. For a human. She watched him from the reeds, helping the old ones. She held still as he worked quickly with the knife on the ropes. Her curious eyes took him in. He smelled nice enough. And when he smiled at her, his eyes sparkled like the sun on the water’s surface. She smiled back.  
He blinked, taken by surprise by the mouthful of sharp teeth then laughed. And the odd thought that they were cute. And even odder still, wondering how they’d feel against his skin as he worked her over. He cleared his throat. She raised an eyebrow. He scented like a buck in rut. It was her turn to laugh, high pitched and tinkling. He could believe the tales of their songs luring ships onto rocks and men to their deaths.  
He cut the final rope and her tail snapped forward. She flipped wildly and propelled herself into the water. “Wait!” Hal leaned over the edge of the boat, peering into the murky river. His heart skipped a beat as her pretty, yet frightening face surfaced inches from his. “Did you tell those boys?”  
“No.” She tilted her head. He didn’t know the other danger that lurked in the water. “Is that it?”  
“Your name?”  
She laughed. “You wouldn’t be able pronounce it with your human tongue.”  
Hal grinned, rolling said tongue over his bottom lip. “Then what can I call you?” He heard raised voices and loud movement through the underbrush. There was a splash and she was gone. He jumped from the boat and pushed it out to the middle of the water then took off in the direction of the farm. He’d made it out of sight but was still within earshot to hear their anger at the double disappearance.  
His breath and blood thundered in his ears as he hurried through the dark woods, trying to make as little sound as possible. He missed when the screams began…

Harold sat at the large round table. Once a week, he’d come in and have a coffee with a couple of the other old military men in town and share war stories and sometimes have a piece of pie. This morning held a morose air. He liked it to the tense and sad returns to base from a mission with casualties.  
“Who found the bodies?”  
“Abner Luth.”  
“What was he doing out that way?”  
“Night fishing, he said. Said he heard terrible screaming and splashing. Dropped his pole and ran toward it. The bigger boys had made it back to shore but lost a lot of blood. The little one…we haven’t found him yet.”  
“How do we know that ni-“  
Harold turned in his chair and leveled the younger, albeit scared, man with a harsh look. “You don’t want to finish that sentence, boy.”  
“Harold, now don’t get yourself involved.”  
“Luth served in the War. You show him respect no matter his skin color. You hear?” The deputy and the young man looked down at the plates. “Abner didn’t do it.”  
“How do you know?”  
“Because he was working my back field the day them other boys got killed on the river.” Silence hung heavy in the diner. The likely other scapegoat was Hal.  
“What about your new hand? What’s his name?”  
“Hal? What about him?”  
“You think he’s capable of something like this, Harold?”  
“I don’t rightly know, deputy. But if he’s still at the house when I get back, I’m gonna say he probably didn’t.”  
“Well, how you know that?”  
“The killer’s been moving on after doing the killing. So if he’s there, he ain’t the killer.”  
The deputy nodded. “That’s solid thinking, Harold.”  
Harold groaned as he stood. “Storm’s a’coming. I better get on home and make sure the horses are up in the barn.” He clapped the deputy on the shoulder. “You still wanna question Hal, you’re more than welcome out to the farm. May will even fix that blackberry cobbler you like so much.”  
“Thank you, sir.”  
Harold groaned again as he climbed into the truck, the changing pressure of the storm settling into his old bones. By the time he pulled up in front of the house, the rain was coming down in sheets, interspersed with thunder and lightning. Hal was already in the horse pasture, attempting to wrangle one the mares.  
Harold jumped out of the cab of the truck and slammed the door. He moved fast despite the pain shooting up his back and down his legs. He’d be laid up tomorrow for sure. Hal had managed to snare the youngest mare but the stud and the old mare were still panicking further out in the grass.  
“I’ve got her. You get him!”  
“How about I get Ol’ Miss and we tackle Jed together?”  
“Smart thinking, boy. Let me get Daisy into in the barn.” Hal cast a glance over his shoulder as the old man soothed the mare as he led her through the pouring rain into the barn.  
Harold had settled Daisy into her stall by the time Hal brought Ol’ Miss through the barn door, the wind catching it and banging it open wildly. “You get her settled and I’ll try to get Jed closer to the gate.”  
“You be careful. He’s spooked and he’ll hurt you if he gets the chance. Not cause he means to, mind you. Just because horses are skittish.”  
“Yes, sir.” Hal hurried back out into the storm. Jed paced back and forth inside the gate. Maybe this was gonna be easier than he thought. He opened the gate just as a frighteningly loud crack of thunder shook the sky. Jed panicked and barreled through the gate, knocking Hal onto his back in the mud. Harold saw the horse bolt and the boy fall. “I’m fine! I’m fine!”  
The old man nodded and took off after the horse. “Jed! Jed, come back here.” The stud splashed into the shallow water at the edge of the river then looked around, lost and confused about what to do next. Harold held up his hands as he moved closer. Hal came to a stop on the beach.  
“Harold, let me-“  
“I’ve got him, Hal. You just be ready in case he tries to bolt again.”  
Jed cantered back and forth in the water, nervously as the old man eased closer. He almost had a hand on the harness when thunder cracked again. The horse reared up and knocked Harold into the water then went deeper into the choppy murky river.  
Hal helped Harold to his feet. “You ok?” He nodded. Both men waded into thigh-deep water. When they had a hold of the harness, they began to move steadily toward the shore. The younger man spotted the fast moving shadow under the water before the distracted old man. “Harold, look out!” Hal lunged to push him out of the way, slipping on the water worn rocks off the river bed. Whatever it was bumped Hal’s side hard. He came up gasping. “Get out of the water, Harold!”  
The thing in the water came at him again. Hal took a hard bump against his shoulder. White hot pain radiated down his arm. Bright red blood mixed with the brown water. Harold had made it to shore and was calling his name when he popped above the water.  
“Hurry, boy!” The old man waved at him. It would have been funny-looking to him had his chest not been about to explode. “It’s coming back! Hal! Get out of the water!” His ears rang like the time he’d been standing too close to the canon when it had fired…  
Hal saw it then, moving through the water sleek and fast, like nothing he’d ever seen before. It’s skin nearly the color of the water. He glimpsed a cold black eye before the mouth full of teeth swung for him. He’d known death would come for him. But he hadn’t expected it to be a fucking killer fish.  
The water rippled then Hal was thrown back but the impact of something into the shark’s side. It whipped around and disappeared into the murky water. Hal’s chest burned for air and he finally had a mind to surface, gasping in a lung full. Harold started in for him. “Stay there!” Hal croaked, lifting his uninjured hand out of the water. He didn’t move. The thing could come at him from any direction.  
The shark came back around, moving faster in its agitation. He splashed as he tried to make it to the shore. That’s when he saw her. Her pale, green-tinted flesh brilliant against the brown water. She hit the shark hard in the belly. It spasmed then lighter flesh split open, clouding the water with red.  
Her arms wrapped around Hal’s torso and hauled him onto the sandy soil at the water’s edge. “You are hurt.”  
“Just a scratch, baby.”  
She frowned. “Let me help you.” Harold stared in awe as the mermaid’s tail flicked back and forth in the water. She plucked a scale free from gash in her tail, thanks to the shark. Tears sprung to her eyes that she quickly let fall over the bleeding puncture wounds from the tiger shark’s teeth.  
Hal hissed at the sting. She splashed water of the bloody, dirty flesh. Hal couldn’t believe his eyes. His shoulder was clean and whole. He sat up and tested it with a swung. “How’d you do that?” She shrugged. “Thank you. You saved my life.”  
“My debt is repaid.” She ducked her head, tucking her matted hair behind her ear.  
“Harold! Hal! Everything alright?” The mermaid’s head snapped up at the sound of May’s voice then she was gone like a shot. Her powerful tail slapped the water then she was gone.  
“What that a-?”  
“Yup.”  
“Should we call someone?”  
“Let’s take care of Jed and get that fucking thing, whatever it is out of the water.” They settled the stud into his stable then went back out to the river. The mermaid had dragged the shark’s carcass on the grass and sand.  
The storm had calmed and Hal had dried off and changed clothes by the time the authorities arrived. Hal wasn’t fond of the attention. He put on his best charming smile and posed for pictures. When they’d gone, he shut himself up in his room. He sat on the edge of the bed, elbows on his knees and hands clasped. He sat like that for a good hour, maybe two, staring at the same spot on the floor. Then he stood up and began to pack.

May insisted on fixing Hal breakfast before he took off. She hugged him tightly and told him that he could always come back. They both knew he wouldn’t. Harold had come to him as soon as the sun was up. He handed him an envelope with $100 and told him to try to make a life for himself somewhere.  
He’d been on the road two days before he noticed the mermaid following him back down the river. He made camp as the sun set, building a small fire and setting up a bedroll close to the flickering flames. He heard her pulling herself through the underbrush.  
“Why are you following, baby?”  
“I am not a child.”  
Hal smirked, tucking his hands behind his head as he stared up at the stars. “It’s a term of affection, sweetheart.” Her face filled his view and she smiled. His heart skipped at her terrifying beauty. Would he get used to seeing such sharp teeth in her pretty face?  
“Is that one as well?”  
“It is.”  
“Why did you leave the old ones?”  
He looked past her at the stars above. “It was time to move on.”  
“You are a rouge?”  
“You could say that.”  
She nodded. “I am too.” She looked off into the dark trees, full of night sounds. “My pod…they moved up to the lakes to be able to hide from humans better. I…I hate the cold.”  
The grass rustled and he felt her move. She braced her knees in the grass at his hips. He pushed himself up, all thought of the stars above gone. “Whoa, doll. How’d you-I mean, where’s the tail?”  
“It is a long story.”  
Hal swallowed as he realized he had a beautiful, yet slightly cool and those teeth… Anyways, a beautiful woman straddling his lap. His cock twitched in the snug denim. She tilted her head, her thin lips curling into a smile. She raised an eyebrow.  
“You smell like a buck in rut.”  
“I don’t-“  
“It’s alright.” She took his hands from the ground and placed them both on her bare breasts. “I wish to mate with you.”  
“Mate? Baby, that ain’t exactly romantic.”  
“What is romantic?” She tilted her head to the side.  
Hal pulled his hands away, resting one on her thigh and combing the other through his hair. “Look, this just ain’t how humans do this.”  
“I would beg to differ, but show me how you do it then.”  
Hal combed his fingers through her hair, pushing it back from her pretty face. Then he cupped her jaw and pressed his lips to hers. She kept her eyes open, watching as he closed his. His lips moved softly against hers, coaxing her to press harder. He’d slip a girl tongue by now but her teeth scared him.  
The hand on her thigh skimmed up over her hip to rest on the small of her back. He moaned against her mouth as he pressed her apex against his groin. She gasped. “Do that again, Hal.”  
“Baby, I’m gonna do more than that.” She squealed as he flipped them over. A softness took over Hal as he propped himself above her, looking down at her ethereal beauty in the moonlight. “You saved me.”  
“You saved me, as well, Hal.” She reached up to touched his face, a gentle cool touch. “I was willing to die at the hands of those humans. I have nothing left. My family all gone. Then you rescued me.”  
Blush warmed Hal’s sharp cheekbones. “So what are you saying, baby?”  
“I will go anywhere with you. Follow you anywhere.”  
“Don’t you need water?”  
“I do.”  
Hal lowered his body against hers. He shivered at the cool of her body against his hot one. He tucked the hair behind her ears. “I hear the gulf is nice most times.” She shook her head. “No? Why no?”  
“Different water.”  
Hal’s brow furrowed as he thought. “So you need river or lake water. Not ocean water.” She nodded. His thumb caressed along her cheek as he smiled softly. “I know just the place.”

Two years later…  
The ax thunked against the tree stump. The pieces of wood clattered to the ground. Hal stood up straight, squinting into the brilliant blue sky. The sound of delicate, tinkling laughter pulled his mouth into a smile. He wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand.  
“Papa papa!” A little girl with long brown hair hurried across the grass to him. “Come, papa!”  
Merry hurried behind their daughter. “Yes, Hal, come on. We’re going swimming.”  
Hal dropped the ax and followed behind his dark-haired beauties. The wind caught the little girl’s sundress and tumbled it across the clearing toward the house. His love tossed her away, the wind carrying it to his hands. She looked over her shoulder smiling at him. The sunlight glinted off her pale skin, giving life to the faint green there. Two little feet and two slightly bigger feet thundered down the dock. They were airborne for a moment then into the water with a splash.  
Hal stood on the end of the dock, kicking off his work boots. He watched his wife and daughter swim and flip, their green and brown tails shimmering in the sun’s rays when the broke the surface. He peeled off the sweaty white tee then shoved the denim down his legs. He hadn’t stood up yet when Merry broke the surface at the end of the dock.  
“You are taking too long.” She grabbed his arm and pulled him into the water with a splash and a cry.


End file.
